“Hey,” she says. She’s smiling, something rare, before, now more of an absent dandelion found in a crack in the road. The sun hits her blond hair right, and you swallow a lump in your throat.

It’s a moment. When she had met your eyes before, every instance had been a moment; now, a few years later when you’re feeling more awkward but more you in your body and she is so different but as stunning as before, you can count the seconds that pass where your eyes meet and linger. One, two, three …

And it’s gone, when Hau wraps his arms around both your shoulders and says, “Why are you hogging Lillie?” He laughs and hugs Lillie and she laughs too, clapping him on the back and smiling at you.

You smile back, try to remember your words, and Hau lets her go.

“Well?” he says to the both of you, and you blink in surprise. “We’re throwing a party, obviously!” he says enthusiastically. “To Iki Town!”

He barrels on ahead, grappling at his grandfather who probably wants to welcome Lillie back and instead ropes him into some town party discussion. The crowd that has gathered at the dock is dispersing, because of you , and because of her–not together, but.

Before you can speak, she asks, “What have you been up to?” even though she’s the one who’s been traveling, who’s been away.

You let her go anyway, shrug. She says, “Maybe you should be the one asking me that question,” and you smile and nudge her to let her know it’s okay.

Throwing the question back, you say, “What have you been up to?” and she laughs. You are walking together along the dock now, slowly but back toward the town. She sighs and clasps the strap of her suitcase; she smiles.

“Vulpix look different in Kanto,” she says, to fill the silence.

You snicker at her. “They are,” you say.

“And meowth.”

You laugh, bright. She watches you, because you are not really a loud person, but she is here and back and you suddenly want to hold her hand and tell her about everything that’s changed, show her everything that’s stayed . “You’ve met my meowth before,” you say. The back of your hand brushes against hers.

She giggles to herself. “I have,” she agrees.

Together you walk to the Pokemon Research Center, where she can place her bags. She curses a little when she stumbles on the beach and then apologizes for it, to which you shake your head and say, “No, it’s okay,” because that’s certainly new and something she probably picked up when she was traveling and it’s interesting . You hold the door open for her and help her get her suitcase back up to the loft where she used to stay with Kukui a few years back.

She heaves her bag down and you join her up there. She places her hands on her hips, and she looks different–the same, with her hair in a ponytail and in her white hoodie and skirt. But she isn’t the same as when she was, three years ago, and neither are you. You can’t stop staring at her, anyway.

She says, “This place is a lot smaller than I remember it,” looking around the lab.

“I don’t know why you sound surprised,” you say shy of tease, and she elbows you gently.

“Are we going to Iki Town?” she asks you.

“Well,” you say, leaning on the railing and looking down to Kukui’s ground floor. “We can either sit here and pretend we don’t know Hau is setting up a welcome back party for you, or we can go and help them out.”

Lillie laughs. It’s not new, exactly, but you’re still not used to it, and you’re not sure if you ever will be. Her laugh makes the tips of your fingers and your palms warm, and like a moon, every side of her is different, nuanced and sometimes bright.

“Let’s go then,” she says, and even when you’d much rather be alone, you still don’t mind.

At Iki, Hau is bothering the Kahuna and the other villagers, really for no apparent reason other than, “No, I know Lillie’s favorite color is purple, so use this orange streamer!” Everyone is in full bloom and the villagers warmly welcome Lillie back, talking about your own growth, too. Your mom and meowth are helping with the tapestry, and you’ve let out your own pokemon to help, too.

In the middle of Lillie showing you her Kanto pokedex and you poking it to see if it talks like your Alolan one, you notice a flash of blond hair from the corner of your eye, and do a double take. But before you can say anything, Hau beats you to it.

“Gladion!” he hollers across the village. “Are you finally here to say hi to your sister?”

Gladion turns his head for a second like he thinks he can avoid Hau’s weirdy keen eye; then he stalks over from where he was hiding behind a tree, looking torn between grumpy and happy at seeing Lillie back. “You didn’t have to shout so loud,” he grumbles to Hau, who just grins and puts his hands behind his head.

Lillie smiles at her brother. “It’s good to see you again, too,” she says earnestly.

“Yeah, you too,” says Gladion. Then he shoots her a smile, and you. “Did you have fun at Kanto?” he asks Lillie. “Did it remind you a lot of her ?” He glances at you.

You roll your eyes, cheeks warm, and try to step on Gladion’s foot. (You miss.) “ Gladion –”

“Yes, it did,” Lillie says earnestly, and you look at her. She’s just smiling in her brother’s direction, though. “It was really wonderful, I–” she turns to you, “I feel like I understand you better,” she says to you.

“It’s just a country,” you remind her.

“It’s your country,” she points out.

“How big was it?” asks Hau, jumping in even though you’re pretty sure he’d just been arguing with his grandpa a second before. “Is it as big as Alola?”

Lillie’s eyes go wide. “Yeah,” she says. “In fact, sometimes it felt like it was bigger than Alola.”

“No way, you’re kidding!” Hau snorts. “Man, I kinda wanna visit Sinnoh…”

“I was thinking of visiting Unova,” says Gladion.

Hau bumps his shoulder. “Yo, me too! We should totally visit Unova sometime together!”

“You just said you wanted to visit Sinnoh,” Gladion says.

They go into a kind of conversation of their own (as much of a conversation as Hau can have with someone, and Gladion) but it’s Lillie and you again. You say, though smiling, “I’m not sure how much you can learn about me when you spend three years away from me.”

Lillie sighs. “Oh, I’m–”

She breaks off. A somber expression passes over her face. Then she says, “Well, it’s like how you moved here and learned all about Alola, right? I learned about Kanto, it was sort of a,” she shrugs, “equal exchange.”

“I like it better when you’re here,” you tell her.

Her eyes are electric blue and meet yours. “Yeah, me too,” she says.

Then Hau yells something about cake and you both duck your heads away, smiling, and you say, “Should we go see what’s going on?” and she nods because neither of you run away from anything that has to do with cake.

The festivities are in full swing and it’s not the same as when you became champion, but it comes pretty close. It feels so much better, with you on one side of the town while a kid pesters you with questions on what it’s like to be Champion, Lillie on the other entertaining the villagers with her stories from abroad. Sometimes it’s Hau making you dance with him, or making Gladion dance with everyone , and Lillie laughing with surprise and delight when Hau grabs her hands and tries to twirl her and fails ultimately.

Of course, that just means that you end up catching her (as always) and Hau hastens with a quick apology before trying to get Gladion to his feet. Lillie smiles at you and says, “Sorry,” and you are trying not to blush, say, “It’s Hau’s fault, anyway,” and she laughs and says, “It is, isn’t it?”

It’s only been a few hours since she’s come back, but three years is an ache. It had been unexpected at first, when you’d only known at the dock when she was boarding the ship and telling you that in a couple of minutes she’d be heading to Kanto. Now it feels like a dream, when she is beside you as always and wondering aloud what they put in the juice, like no time has passed–except it has, because there are years you have missed and you didn’t realize how painful it was to be eleven and in love.

She looks at you and says, “I don’t know if you’re being quiet because you’re bored or because you’re you.”

You grin and she says, “That doesn’t help,” and you grin harder.

The music is loud and the other captains and kahuna have flown over for Lillie. She is surprised, keeping you with her for support, saying to you, “I didn’t realize everyone missed me that much.” You want to say that there is no reason for anyone not to miss her, but you grab her hand and squeeze it first.

It is new and you hesitate, regret it for the briefest of seconds–but then she smiles and squeezes your hand back, before Acerola pounces on her in a flurry of purple.

The party seems to last forever, so you keep your energies low and munch on food as everyone else dances or laughs or battles, Hau and Hala especially. Lillie has been swept away once more but she finds you again easily, tossing pokebeans at your ninetales.

“I always feel better when I find you,” Lillie confesses, looking between you and ninetales.

You try not to feel too pleased, but upon noticing Lillie, ninetales abandons you and struts over to her, beginning to rub her snout along Lillie’s cheek.

Lillie giggles. “Oh, you’re cold,” she says to your ninetales, but strokes its fur anyway. “I didn’t know you missed me too.”

You watch them for a moment, smiling to yourself.

Then you get up to your feet.

“Come with me,” you say to Lillie, holding your hand out to her.

Bewildered, she takes it. You pull her away from ninetales, who pouts at you. You ignore this and lead Lillie away, to the edge of the town and then out.

Lillie asks, “Where are we going?” but it’s quieter here now, away from everyone else, and–you remember the day of your championship, again. You remember a lot of other things, like Lillie and Gladion’s mom, and the other world, and–a lot of other things you can’t place names for, or don’t really want to remember, just the easy things like the Pokemon League and becoming Champion and people praising you for that , for skill, not for saving the world.

You drop Lillie’s hand, because it’s a lot; but she is here and asks you what’s wrong. You smile at her and say, “Nothing,” and then take her hand again and say, “I want to go to the beach.”

“Why?” says Lillie. “The sun’s already set,” because it has, a dark indigo washing across the sky with the crease of the moon rising in the distance.

You smile at her. “That’s fine,” you say, and lead her past the professor’s research center, until you’re with the mareanie and corsola and sandygast.

You sit on the beach; after a moment, Lillie flattens the back of her skirt and sits next to you. She fidgets a little. The moon is not yet bright in the sky, like it’s waiting for you to forget about the sun, first.

Lillie says, “I am sorry, you know. That I didn’t tell you, before–” She bites her lip, turns away, turns to you. “Before I left,” she says, her eyes on yours.

“It’s okay,” you say to her. You mean it. When her eyebrows furrow like she thinks she needs to apologize again, you add, “You didn’t owe me anything.”

“But I did,” she says seriously. “You’re my–best friend. I want to know more about you.”

You bump her ankle with yours. “You do, you visited Kanto,” you tease.

She nods into her lap, blushing. A corsola waddles by and crows at you two, and you nod at it as Lillie reaches into her bag for something, pulling out a bag of pokebeans. She pours several into her palm and offers them to the corsola, who munches eagerly.

“I brought a lot to Kanto, I’m not sure if I was allowed,” Lillie confesses to you. “But I know a lot of the pokemon here like them, and I don’t have a lot of pokemon, but I thought they might like it, and maybe like me–”

You lean over and press your lips onto hers, dry and awkward and tense. But when you pull away her eyes are closed, and it takes her a full second to open them again, like maybe she had been expecting more.

“I like you,” you tell her. “A lot.”

The corsola is still eating out of her hand, seemingly unaware of you two. Lillie blinks at you and then, dropping the pokebeans to the sand, she beams.

“I’ve never kissed anyone before,” she says, “but me too.” She ducks her chin down, plays with a strand of her hair, her cheeks colored in the growing moonlight. “A lot.”

“I missed you a lot too,” you say to her.

“Me too,” she says. She brings her head up. Her cheeks are dimpled. “I don’t know why I can’t stop smiling,” she says.

“Me neither,” you say, and bring yourself in. You think you may kiss her again, but you just press your forehead to hers, your nose to hers, tight and breathtaking between you two. You remember the day she left, and she says–

“I remember the day you saved my life,” smiling, “when we first met,” and you think, as full as the moon was that day, it hasn’t been this bright until now.

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whatever a moon has always meant

by aroceu

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© 2009-2026 aroceu